


you should stop me there but I keep on talking

by metropoliszone



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Teasing, hints of renji/hisagi, hints of yoruichi/kisuke, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:55:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28441245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metropoliszone/pseuds/metropoliszone
Summary: Falling for a prince has many MANY complications to it.Which is why Grimmjow absolutely did it. Because fuck his life.
Relationships: Grimmjow Jaegerjaques/Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 1
Kudos: 71
Collections: GrimmIchi Secret Santa 2020





	you should stop me there but I keep on talking

**Author's Note:**

> Secret santa fic for Barmek! I hope you like it! This pic inspired me; https://twitter.com/BarMekler/status/1304101926691364864
> 
> This fic has a playlist you can listen to here;
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/681Rf24LPkfdHJRZQF0cH6?si=jvppDINTRfaEHJhCSmhbEg

“You know that by now, you should have proposed to someone at one of these festivals.”

“You know by now that you should have had your leg snapped.”

At the edges of the palace sat two men, dressed up in armor and gear, one with a long sword resting against their shoulder, the other cleaning his gauntlet. Guards of the palace, guards of the prince in particular. Both keeping to themselves as people around them began to set up their stalls and put out their foods and wares. The guards kept a close eye on everything, making sure that no one was acting suspicious or weird.

Because that was Renji’s job.

“I’m just sayin’.”

“And you shouldn’t.”

Grimmjow grumbled as he strapped his gauntlets onto his hands, giving them a squeeze as he attempted to get himself back into fighting shape. Any fighting that’ll happen today will be to show off to potential spouses or to give any bastards the heave ho. Which Grimmjow is far more willing to do than Renji ever seemed to attempt. There’s been a few times where he’s just thrown someone over the wall of the castle because he was sick of their shit. Whether they really deserved it or not. One would think he’d be kicked out on his ass, but when you’re one of the strongest men in the castle, you’re the one kicking others out on their asses.

“Yeah but-”

“Zip it.”

Renji just looked at Grimmjow, his eyebrow raising, as Grimmjow continued to ignore him and gave the air a few good punches. Letting out a long sigh as he directed one of the owners of the stall to where they needed to go.

“Besides. Not like you’ve done better.”

Grimmjow said with a smirk, looking at the bright red Renji who was now refusing to give him any eye contact.

“How many Snow Festivals have you just ignored because you didn’t want to propose?”

“That’s different!”

“Yeah! Cause it should be easier for you, fucker!”

And that was true. The one Renji had his eyes on was just another guard, and it would be the easiest thing in the world (according to Grimmjow) for him to just admit that he liked him! But here he was, on yet another Snow Festival, single, alone, and desperate. Definitely desperate. With the way he’s now looking around. He’d deny it every step of the way, but Grimmjow knew. He’s not stupid. He can see, dammit. He has really great eyes, and equally great denial of his own feelings. There’s a small pause before,

“Oy, Hisagi!”

Grimmjow swore he saw Renji jump a mile in the air, and all he could do was laugh. Watching him look back and forth over his shoulder when he got settled, trying to see if he could see him. But all he got was Grimmjow laughing, and his face as red as his hair. “Shut up!” Renji yelled at him, “You wouldn’t be so damn happy if the Prince was right behind you!” Finger pointing right at Grimmjow.

“Shit, it wouldn’t matter to me! It ain’t like I’d tell him!”

“Tell him what?”

Now it was Grimmjow’s turn to nearly jump. He could feel the shiver running down his spine as he quickly turned around to face Hisagi, which explained why Renji was no longer able to look right at Grimmjow. And Hisagi just blinked as he looked at two completely bright red men in front of him, completely embarrassed and trying not to say anything.

“Nothing! Shaddup!” Turning around and huffing, his feet stomped as he moved through the festival, causing a path to be created between the stall workers as he moved past them, “Don’t say anything, Renji!” Far enough away to just yell at him across the courtyard, “Keep it to your damn self!” Before turning around and stomping further and further away. If it wasn’t an important festival day for all the stall owners, they might have some concerns about one of the guards throwing what would be considered a loud, annoying hissy fit.

Hisagi just looked at Renji, “What did you do?” Hands on his hips, raising his eyebrows, as he looked right at Renji.

“I didn’t do anythin’! You know him, he’s a big cranky bastard.” Renji let out a loud grunt and crossed his arms over his chest, “Don’t worry ‘bout him…” But his eyes were looking right at Grimmjow still storming away, his anger could be felt in the air, “A… anyways! Let’s go see what’s goin’ on! Making sure everyone’s getting set up.” Trying so desperately to be as smooth as possible to him.

“Uh-huh. Alright, guard man Renji. Let’s go.”

~ ~ ~

The reason why Grimmjow was so powerful in the castle was that he was a close companion of the prince. Prince Ichigo Kurosaki had a fascination with the knight, ever since the pair of them were younger. Growing from a young child up into a completely disrespectful young knight, to a disrespectful young man who was tasked with being by Ichigo’s side for most of the day when he was out and about. But it also landed on him to do some of the more basic, more annoying tasks. Like the ones that servants couldn’t manage to do.

How fucking hard is it to get him out of bed?

Apparently, very, as five servants have given up, and it’s up to the already angry Grimmjow to take care of that part for them. He walked over to the bed with a heavy grunt, where Ichigo was either asleep or pretending to be (and is the difference really that big?), and gave him one hard shake, “Oy. Wake up,” In the least indoorsy voice he’s got. And when that didn't work, he moved onto step two. One hand, on the body, and shoved him right off the bed, “You’ve got shit to do today.”

“What the hell?!” Ichigo plopped up through the blankets, looking absolutely a mess. But even with how much of a disaster he looked like when he was waking up, Grimmjow could note that he was incredibly good looking. Particularly because he wasn’t wearing a shirt… or pants… huh. Distracted by the view (because damn what a view), he almost entirely missed the anger that Ichigo was trying to throw at him… or was it just a flustered reaction to all of it? “Grimmjow!”

“Yeah?!”

“Don’t just throw me off the bed!”

“Tch. Everyone’s been tryin’ to wake you up. So get your ass up, and get dressed. You’ve got shit to do today.”

Through the grumbling and groaning, Grimmjow knew two things. One, at least it wasn’t his dad waking him up with a kick to the face (a far more common activity than Grimmjow might have thought), and two, Ichigo was not wearing a damn thing in bed. He swore Ichigo used to be way more modest than _that_. Though he was bright red when he noticed that Grimmjow was looking at him, with not a hint of shame on his face. “Stop looking! Let me get dressed!” Attempting to cover himself back up with the blankets so that Grimmjow couldn’t just stare right at him. And still failing.

Until he got a pillow in his face, and told “Leave!”.

“Tch.” Throwing the pillow back, “Damn prissy brat. Just for that, I’m not going _anywhere_.” Showing off his big toothy smile, which just had Ichigo’s face pale as he tried to cover up his face with the blanket. That just lead Grimmjow to let out a heavy laugh, “So get dressed!”

With a blanket wrapped around Ichigo, he could start getting dressed without showing the parts that Grimmjow wanted to see. Except for those legs. Damn. Damn they’re good. To the point where Grimmjow let out a whistle and made Ichigo shiver in his blanket, and desperately try to hide behind it. “Hey, don’t hide it! Least lemme see if you’re going to take so damn long!” Laughing as he leaned back, just barely avoiding being smacked with a different pillow in the face.

Sure, Grimmjow was a pain in the ass to Ichigo (and he’s not going to apologize for that,) but in the end, he’s fairly certain that Ichigo liked it. After all, he knew that if the prince didn’t like him, Grimmjow could be sent somewhere else in the palace, or kicked out entirely. Safe to say, he was pretty damn sure that Ichigo liked him, no matter how much torment they caused each other. 

But ‘like’ liked him?

Yeah, not so sure about that yet. And he’s not going to shoot his shot if he’s not 100% damn sure that he’s not going to be humiliated by it.

~ ~ ~

“Let the Snow Festival begin!”

With the words from the king himself, the people of the kingdom celebrated loudly, beginning to head off to the stalls. One of the busiest festivals of the year, everyone who was anyone (and everyone who wasn’t) could be found at this festival. Karin and Yuzu went off together through the grounds (one of the safest places they could be, what with all the guards around and keeping an eye on the princesses.) Grimmjow could see Renji track the princesses from where he was standing. Which meant that he was tasked with keeping track of Ichigo. And **only** keeping track of Ichigo.

This wasn’t any sort of romantic endeavor, dammit. No matter how close they stood beside each other, or how much he kept looking at Ichigo. That was called being a good bodyguard. Tch. If Renji knew that, he’d be way better at his job, wouldn’t he?

Denial? He doesn’t know that shit, don’t bother him with that kind of shit.

But he couldn’t deny that when he was looking at him right now, the way he was dressed in a yukata, arms crossed into one another to keep warm, he looked so god damn handsome. Hair out of his face, and walking right beside Grimmjow. After this morning, and properly waking up, they can both pretend that Grimmjow wasn’t acting like a right bastard, and Ichigo wasn’t being so damn embarrassed about being seen nearly naked. Which meant that everything was back to normal, mostly. That’s what Grimmjow liked the most about Ichigo. Anyone else was a pain in the ass about this sort of shit, but Ichigo could take what he was thrown.

Today especially, Ichigo was acting more like a regular everyday person rather than a prince. But that’s just how he acted all the damn time. He took after his father Isshin, who discarded the royal facade among those he trusted; though Ichigo took it further and didn't act like royalty at all. A rough and tumble prince who could fight with the best of them if anyone let him, and Grimmjow took it up whenever he could get away with it. Which was at least once a week, so long as someone wasn’t going to complain about him doing it.

“Here.”

Ichigo handed over an apple on a stick to Grimmjow, grinning as he looked at the knight. Fuck, why was he so handsome? His face, tinged red as his thoughts were interrupted, Grimmjow just looked right at the apple and down at Ichigo’s face.

“I’m not gonna eat the whole damn thing.” Grunting and moving closer, moving to grab onto Ichigo’s hand to pull it closer, moving to take a bite out of the apple, his face so close to Ichigo’s. It’s just what he did. His eye opened just a bit to see Ichigo’s face get even more red than his own. He’s going to distract himself from his own thoughts, dammit. “Just a bite.” Licking his lips as he pulled away, a toothy grin showing off as he swallowed down the piece of fruit, so pleased with himself, with Ichigo looking at him, mouth slightly open, unable to say anything.

Damn, he was good. He was one hell of a bastard, and proud of it.

“Don’t do that!” Ichigo yelled at him, all flustered and angry. “Why would you do that?!” In hushed yelling once he realized that they were in public and Grimmjow didn’t give a fuck who got to see him. No fear. No weakness.

“Cause,” Before fully snatching the apple away from Ichigo, a smirk on his lips as he tossed some coins to the stall owner, “It’s fun.” Because that was shorter and incredibly easier than admitting any sort of feelings he might have for a prince. Give him hell or admit he might like someone? Yeah, that was an easy decision for him. And he’ll keep that for as long as he possibly could.

~ ~ ~

The one problem with not admitting his feelings (besides that he felt like he’s going to explode at any given time, and that all he can think about when he looked at Ichigo was giving him a kiss right on the lips,) was that there was always that tinge of jealousy that was rolling through his veins. If someone else was looking at the prince, there wasn’t nothing more that he wanted to do than to throw them over the wall of the castle. When he was with Ichigo, he was almost always glaring at someone if he didn’t know their intentions with the prince.

Especially the stall owners. Those bastards were the biggest problem in Grimmjow’s eyes because they would have something to gain from trying to get into Ichigo’s clutches. The problem with that was were they trying to be nice or were they trying to get into the deep pockets of the royalty? Or worse. Into the pants of the prince?

If he ever wore pants.

“Hey. Grimmjow. You’re scowling again.” An elbow to his side, with Ichigo looking at him, a slight teasing smile on his face. “You feeling okay?” It’s so casual, and so charming to look at, that Grimmjow’s scowl started to drop a bit looking at him. Fuck. Holy shit, why is he such a goddamn sun? He does not get it.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

Ichigo was getting closer to him, their hands nearly touching. Fuck, what was this brat doing?! Playing with his brain, that’s for sure. As he looked down at Ichigo, who was absolutely clueless as to what he’s doing (which made it even worse), he swore his scowl was starting to turn into a smile. Which, no, and fuck that. He’s meant to be a scary guard, not a love struck puppy. At least not when people can see him and judge him for it. 

Being in his mind like this (a terrible place to be,) he almost didn’t notice one of the stall owners trying to get their attention. It does take a bit, but finally Grimmjow looked over at him. Is this one familiar? He tilted his head back a bit to get a good look at him.

“Hello Prince!” He said, humming behind his fan, “I see you’re quite busy today, going through the festival. Can I interest you in some wares?” Chuckling as he moved to place some items on a table, all cheerful and nice, and absolutely being far too kind to the prince for Grimmjow’s liking. Because damn, this man oozed suspicion. Weird hat, shady eyes, and scruffy as hell. Worst of all, Ichigo seemed even curious about it. If not a little put off because damn this guy was weird.

“Tch. Don’t trust this guy, Prince.” Grimmjow moved to try and prevent Ichigo from getting closer to the weird man, “Seems like a con-man. Don’t talk to him. Just keep walking.” It was his job, after all, to prevent Ichigo from getting into dangerous situations, like trusting the shadiest man alive and winding up going missing until someone found him somewhere where they shouldn’t.

The bars here are damn seedy too.

The shady guy doesn’t seem to be bothered by that, leaning in closer to Grimmjow, “What’s the harm?” The shady man seemed so pleased with himself, humming behind his fan, “I promise you, Prince, if you take a look at my items, you’ll have a wonderful Snow Festival.” Attempting to entice the prince closer to him, the sweet sound of his voice being the lure on the fishing rod to try and pull the prince over to him.

“Fine.” Ichigo moved closer, past Grimmjow (though he stayed very close by to make sure that Ichigo didn’t get pulled in too deep to whatever this man was planning) and in closer to the man, “What do you have?” A curious but cautious voice as he looked right at the man behind the counter, Grimmjow moving to stand right beside him, flexing his gauntlets to show the guy that he shouldn’t mess around. If he wanted to fuck with the prince, he’s going to have to deal with some real problems popping up.

The man quickly snapped his fan shut and chuckled. “I have a few things that any true romantic would want~!” The man said, placing a small bottle on the table. Ichigo, the curious naive boy that he was, moved to pick it up. “And that’s to help with intimacy. I’m sure your friend here would really appreciate that~.” With hat shaded eyes looking right at Grimmjow. And boy, people do not want to be teasing Grimmjow, as much as they can help it. Especially not like this. Not with the prince, who was **not** confused, for once, and was a silent but bright embarrassed red.

Yeah, he wasn’t dealing with that bullshit. He was stopping this now before it could get any worse.

Fingers gripped that table, no one could stop Grimmjow from outright flipping it on the shady man before gripping onto Ichigo’s wrist. “Fuckin’ hell. Don’t listen to that bastard!” Getting more flustered than he ever had before. Fuck everyone today, everyone was ganging up on him for no good reason. “C’mon, Prince.” A loud huff as he basically tried dragging the Prince away from the stall, “I told you not to trust that guy!”

“Good luck~! You’ll need it.”

One hand on the prince, the other giving off a middle finger.

~ ~ ~

It was hard for Grimmjow to calm down after that. Because he swore the guy had done it on purpose, just to upset him. Who was that bastard anyways?! Grumbling and storming off, while forcing Ichigo to come right behind him. Most people avoided Grimmjow when he was in one of his moods, which allowed him to stomp off in anger without anyone blocking him. But his anger would distract him somewhat from what was important.

Like the fact his hand was no longer gripping onto Ichigo. At least the distance wasn’t that far. So when he noticed, all he had to do was turn around to look at Ichigo standing there, arms crossed over his chest and tapping his foot.

“What’s going on? You’re acting weirder than normal.”

“No I’m not. You’re acting weird.”

Ichigo’s eyebrow raised, “Really?” Tapping his finger on his arm.

“Yeah, really. What about it?” Grimmjow huffed and moved to walk closer to him. “I’m not bein’ weird. Now c’mon.”

But Ichigo didn’t budge. His eyes just narrowed slightly as he looked Grimmjow up and down, not blinking and not letting Grimmjow get away with anything. Any twitch, any slight movement, Ichigo’s eyes grabbed and latched onto, claws in a curtain kind of holding onto. “This is about the snow festival.”

“No.”

“You can’t just say no to that! It wasn’t a question!”

“I can say whatever I wanna say. I’m the head knight. You’re a prince but I still got my mouth, dammit.”

Which was avoiding all the questions that Ichigo might have, but it was better than to say what was playing on his tongue. The day was hitting its end, and they’re preparing to launch the evening fireworks. And that’s when people who might love one another say something. They say something out loud and either walk home together or walk home alone.

The pair of them would walk back into the castle together anyways. But Grimmjow, in the end, wanted them to walk back in as Prince and Knight. However, with the way that Ichigo was going back against him, it looked like he wasn’t going to get away with that, was he? He could hear the King’s voice shouting through the crowds. If all this shit hadn’t happened, Ichigo might be there too. But, in the end, here they stood.

One loyal knight, who trained the prince, who would fight through hell and back for him and the kingdom because dammit, he liked to fight and the prince was cute.

One prince, who was the object of the knight’s torment, and the worst crush the knight had in years. 

Their eyes met each other as the sun began to set fully. If Grimmjow didn’t say it now, he knew that someone else would. And he knew that being this goddamn suspicious was only going to cause problems.

But he was stubborn. Hands resting against his sides as he grunted and shut his eyes. The silence of the crowds and the moments between everything settled down and the start of the end began to fill up the space between them. And if Grimmjow wanted to say something, he was trying to mentally prepare himself.

“…I like you too.”

Grimmjow just paused, and blinked. Looking at Ichigo. The naive idiot, the stupid boy, that awful prince who was so determined to mess up his day and his life by existing took the words right out of his mouth, didn’t he.

“…Didn’t say that.”

But he didn’t deny it either.

“You were going to, weren’t you?” Ichigo smiled at him, moving to take a step closer, letting out a light chuckle. Grimmjow had been red all day when he wasn’t teasing Ichigo, and now he swears he’s redder than any other moment of the day. Tormenting and flustering Ichigo is one thing, but being flustered himself was not something he was ever prepared for. But the prince completely fucked that up for him.

And no, he wasn’t going to respond to that. Ichigo wasn’t going to win this battle against him. So he just huffed over to him and moved down to latch his fingers between Ichigo’s. Because if he did that, Ichigo wasn’t going to win, because he didn’t say his feelings, dammit. Even if Ichigo curled his fingers right back. Holding hands together, in front of the fireworks blasting behind them, their eyes meeting one another fully.

He didn’t lose. But he got what he wanted. Either way. It all turned out in the end.

And he’d win next time, he’d promise that, dammit.

~ ~ ~

“You cheated.”

The shady man just laughed at the black cat sitting beside him. Humming as he rested in his chair.

“I barely had any involvement in it! So you lost the bet, Yoruichi.”

And without saying much else, the cat just turned her back to the man.

“Want to make a new bet on when they’ll get married?”

“Hmph. No interfering this time?”

“Ah ah. Can’t promise that. I’ll make it more entertaining this time, I promise.”


End file.
